ENNIS, Texas – News and notes from Saturday’s AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals at the Texas Motorplex.
In need of a victory: Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro drivers Greg Anderson and Jason Line need a victory this weekend to remain in contention for 2018 NHRA Countdown to the Championship in the Pro Stock class. On Saturday, both drivers gained bonus points as a couple of the quickest cars.
Line, who is the defending event winner, claimed the most bonus points of all for the team (six) through four sessions of qualifying. Line collected three extra points for his 6.612-second pass at 207.78 mph, which ended up as the best of the class for the round. He earned another as third-quickest in session two, and in the final round scored two more points.
“Getting bonus points on Friday with both cars and then again today with my car was certainly a bright spot for us, and the conditions for tomorrow look pretty similar,” Line said. “We’re reasonably happy right now, but hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow we’ll be even happier.”
Meanwhile, Anderson qualified third and scored a total of two bonus points on the first day of qualifying with a best time of 6.600-second at 208.42 mph. On Saturday in the final session he posted a pass of 6.641, 208.07 mph.
“We just spun the tires too hard in low gear that last session, so we were definitely off in 60-foot, and it didn’t run very good after that,” Anderson said. “That was unexpected, but we’ll just have to figure out what we did and go back to what was working for tomorrow,” said Anderson, who is seeking his second win of the season.
“My Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro is a good car and getting a few bonus points on Friday felt good because that’s something we haven’t done in several races. Honestly, we think we could have done even better, so we should be fast tomorrow, and it should be a good raceday. Bring it on. We’re ready.”
Line will race Kenny Delco in the opening round while Anderson will duel Alan Prusiensky.
Rain, rain go away: Rain showers plagued the track throughout the day on Saturday. The races were delayed early Saturday morning after a thunderstorm drenched the track. NHRA officials were forced to readjust the race schedule. Rain is also in the forecast for Sunday afternoon.
Jeg is back: For the second straight race, Jeg Coughlin Jr. has qualified his JEGS.com Elite Performance Chevrolet Camaro at the top of the field. He secured the top spot with a 6.599 at 207.53 mph. He’s also posted a 6.602, a 6.624 and a 6.625.
“We executed really well yesterday and today,” Coughlin said. “We had the quickest car in two out of four sessions and now we’re sitting here as the No. 1 qualifier again so that’s really cool. Tip of the hat to our collection of crew chiefs and crew guys for all their hard work getting us to this point.”
Coughlin won here back in 2002.
Failed to qualify: Seven drivers failed to qualify for Sunday’s finals. Shane Tucker (PS), Robert River (PS), Todd Simpson (FC), Jack Wyatt (FC), Cory McClenathan (TF), Terry Brian (TF) and Terry Totten (TF) did not make the show. Brian and Simpson are Texas drivers. Brian is from Overton and Simpson is a resident of Ponder.
Texas strong: There will be nine Texas drivers in the professional classes that will compete in the elimination rounds on Sunday. They include Steve Torrence, Billy Torrence, Tony Schumacher, Kebin Kinsley (Top Fuel); John Hale, Terry Haddock (Funny Car) and Erica Enders, Alex Laughlin, Chris McGaha (Pro Stock).
Quotable: Tim Wilkerson, Funny Car – “I think what we saw today is that when the track is really good, we have to make bigger changes. That’s all there is to it. We kind of knew that already, but now have parameters on what I want to do for tomorrow if the sun isn’t out. We’ve always said you can never outguess how excellent or crummy any given racetrack will be when the sun is out or not. The racetrack changes so quickly, it’s unbelievable, so there is a little bit of a magic parameter that I’m trying to figure out. We’ve been making the right decisions at the right time these last two races, and that’s our key for tomorrow. We’re going to have to one-round-at-a-time it, and there are no easy runs. I think we’ll be okay, I really do. I’m getting my strategy prepared already.”
